I've spent several days thinking about Michelle's question. There are a lot of things going on here. Obviously, legalized rape is a horror. No one is going to argue otherwise. But these kinds of restrictive laws are going to be a consequence of Hamid Karzai's negotiation with the Taliban, and the general consensus seems to be that these negotiations are necessary for peace in Afghanistan. Since women are so severely affected by conflict, is there an argument to be made that a horrible law is the price to pay for peace? But to make that argument, you need to know exactly how much this law contributes to peace, and how much damage it causes in comparison to the impact of conflict. Any calculation like this is inherently flawed, because the variables are pretty much guesses.

I think, though, that this calculation is not ours to make. It is not our lives at stake. This is where we follow the lead of women in Afghanistan. They are living through a war, and they are the ones facing marital rape. A cursory web search indicates that Afghan women's groups are strongly opposed to this law. For example, the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan has not issued a statement, but they have reprinted on their website an editorial from the Guardian which is strongly opposed to the law. Women for Afghan Women, based in Kabul, has  explicitly condemned the law.

It seems to me, then, that the correct role of the US is one of solidarity and support. We need to condemn, and work against, this law as firmly and explicitly as Afghan women themselves have.